A39695:237
The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptoms of hypocrisy opened…The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptomes of hypocrisie opened…
The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptoms of hypocrisy opened in a practical treatise upon Revelations III 17, 18 being the second part of the Saint indeed / by John Flavell ...The touchstone of sincerity, or, The signs of grace and symptomes of hypocrisie opened in a practical treatise upon Revelations III 17, 18 being the second part of the Saint indeed / by John Flavell ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1698
Title page typeset from the transcription.
THE Touchstone of Sincerity: OR, THE SIGNS Of GRACE, AND Symptoms o… › Chapter 4 › Section 5
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Great was the difference in Jacobs outward condition at his return, from what it was at first passage over Jordan: then poor, now rich; then single and comfortless, now the head of a great family. Yea, but though his outward estate was altered, the frame of his heart was not altered. Jacob was an holy and humble man when he went out, & so he was when he returned: he saw a multitude of mercies about him, and among them all, not one but was greater than himself.
Great was the difference in Iacobs outward condition at his return, from what it was at first passage over Iordan: then poor, now rich; then single and comfortless, now the head of a great family. Yea, but though his outward estate was altered, the frame of his heart was not altered. Iacob was an holy and humble man when he went out, & so he was when he returned: he saw a multitude of mercies about him, and among them all, not one but was greater than himself.
I dare not say every Christian under prosperity can at all times manifest like humility; but I am sure what pride and vanity soever may rise in a gracious heart tried by prosperity, there's that within him, will give check to it: he dare not suffer such proud thoughts to lodge quietly in his heart: for alas he sees that in himself, and that in his God that will abase him; grace will make him look back to his original condition, & say with David, What am I O Lord God, and what ⟨p. 64⟩is my fathers house; that thou hast brought me hitherto? 2 Sam. 7. 18.
I dare not say every Christian under prosperity can at all times manifest like humility; but I am sure what pride and vanity soever may rise in a gracious heart tryed by prosperity, there's that within him, will give check to it: he dare not suffer such proud thoughts to lodge quietly in his heart: for a•as he sees that in himself, and that in his God that will abase him; grace will make him look back to his original condition, & say with David, What am I O Lord God, and what